The realities of the historical and literary processes of the second half of the 20th century convince both literature scholar and usual readers that the strugscholars civil rights, the rise of Black movement understood broadly, was merging with the left-wing literary movement, animated by critical moods, and a deep-seated rush for social justice. This evident trend is represented by first-row names, universally recognized talents. Among them, there is Lorraine Hansberry (1930 – 1965), playwright, publicist, one of the most prominent voices of the Black revolution, whose work is a phenomenon of a nationwide scale.
African American writer Hansberry was a staunch opponent of possessive morality, economic and political oppression. In a short time, she turned into a playwright, whose works delighted her contemporaries and won the love of millions (Thomas 77-78). Hansberry’s plays and journalism speak of her passionate commitment to reviving human dignity. With fierce hatred, she hated the spirit of money-grubbing, seeing in it the source of the social evils of the possessive world, when a person who compromised with his or her conscience becomes an accomplice to those in whose hands the power is. The writer shows her characters in a confrontation with diverse reality and argues the idea of the need to fight social evil, despite the situation, self-interest, and possible outcomes.
In particular, the heroes of Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun (1959) are faced with a dilemma: to come to terms with racist morality or to oppose its obvious injustice. Compared to her previous works, in Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, the conflict is filled with new political content; and the range of problems is greatly expanded: individuality, politics, racial discrimination, art and business, the fate of a small person in the bourgeois world. The way of creating a person’s image also becomes different. For the heroes of A Raisin in the Sun, the focus of the character on a specific purpose was special. Walter, Beneatha, Ruth, Lena – everyone was striving for something, and this direction of will determine the integrity of their natures: “I will go home and much of what I will have to say will seem strange to the people of my village… But I will teach and work and things will happen, slowly and swiftly. At times it will seem that nothing changes at all… and then again…” (Hansberry 45).
Hansberry’s creativity played an exceptional role in the development of black drama after the Second World War. According to Sheader, the writer can be called “the mother of modern black drama no less than Eugene O’Neill is the father of national drama” (36). In this sense, A Raisin in the Sun fulfilled the same function as the novel about black people Native Son of Richard Wright. The Hansberry’s heroes, like Wright’s protagonists, live in Chicago, in the black quarter of South Side, in a wretched apartment called the “mousetrap” (Perry 138). Like the hero of Native Son Bigger Thomas, Thomas Walter Younger in Hansberry works as a chauffeur for a white man; he considers himself a loser, has a stubborn dream of “breaking out” into “better” people. It is like Wright’s Bigger (let us pay attention to the consonance of names), but matured, settled down, the father of the family.
The coincidence of some situations and scene places between Native Son and A Raisin in the Sun is obvious. However, Hansberry deals with a different era, another generation of Blacks, who have a rush for a better life, and most importantly, the self-esteem of Blacks in her works is expressed more distinctly and in a bolder manner. Moreover, one should note that the Hansberry style itself while comparing it with the style of Wright differs significantly. Wright is prone to dark, even deliberately dramatized ‘colors’ and language, while Hansberry’s style is bright, animated by humor. It is built on subtle psychological nuances, which, of course, is natural for dramaturgy.
Wright, both in the Native Son and in words works, invariably draws a sharp contrast between the world of Blacks and Whites, while Hansberry depicts collisions not only between Blacks and Whites but also within the African American family. Blacks, as well as Whites, are depicted impartially, without simplifications or condescending idealization. If in Wright (primarily, in the Native Son), blacks appear primarily as victims of racism, and this detail is highly emphasized, while Hansberry by no means removing the severity of the racial situation draws her characters in all the richness of their human identity (Perry 138-149). One of the main themes of the play is the way to overcome their own ambitions and rejection of their desire to live without regard to race by white Americans.
It is interesting to note that events are not unfolding in the South, the stronghold of racism, but in the North, with which tradition associates the idea of tolerance in the racial problem. The play attracts not only by its sharpness but also by its deep development of characters. The image of Walter Lee, torn between the traditional values of the Black community – the ideals of love, unity, human dignity – and the values of American society, obsessed with the idea of material success, as well as the image of his mother, embodying the best features of the Black people, are of greatest interest.
A careful reading of A Raisin in the Sun allows the reader to conclude that Hansberry combines convinced intransigence towards racism in all its manifestations with the assertion of the need for unity between Blacks and Whites in the struggle for genuine freedom and true social justice. As it was mentioned above, she pursued this idea persistently both in her journalism and in her fiction. She believed in transforming the world, and her work was full of historical optimism. It is important to note that the principle nature of her position became a significant factor in the 60s when the Black movement was largely overwhelmed by nationalist sentiments (Sheader 20).
A Raisin in the Sun was the first play by an African American author on Broadway to receive the New York Theater Critics Circle Award. Moreover, it is recognized as one of the best dramas in the history of American theater. For several years, the play was translated into 35 different languages and staged in theatres around the world. Today, when the racial issue is once again particularly acute in American society, the Hansberry play continues to find new audiences, while actualizing simultaneously the search for identity and dialogue. “All different – all equal” – this axiom is affirmed and promoted in the play.
Works Cited
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Modern Library, 1995.
Perry, Imani. Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry. Beacon Press, 2018.
Sheader, Catherine. Lorraine Hansberry: Playwright and Voice of Justice. Enslow Pub Inc., 1998.
Thomas, Bijimol. “Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. Quest for Black Female Identity and Universality.” Science & Society, Vol. 01, No. 01, 2006, pp. 77-84.